Wednesday, December 31, 2014

My last blog of 2014 concerns another reader who made a request of me that I was unable to fulfill. I’m hoping someone reading today’s bloggy thing will be able to advise or help him.

Urban Lee wrote:

How are you, Mr. Isabella?

My name is Urban Lee, we met at a comic-con in Akron. I am a senior at the University of Mount Union. I am Majoring in Media Computing and my Minor is Art. I am very interested in learning about the comic book world and was wondering if I could shadow you as sort of an internship this spring semester. It would be an honor to learn from a great creator such as yourself. Thank you!

Happy Holidays!

My response:

I'm flattered by your request, but my operation is so small and disorganized that I can't accommodate you in this matter.

I'm a freelance writer with no set schedule, doing whatever jobs come my way. Very few of those jobs involve comic books per se. My work is a mix of online columns, occasional ghost-writing for comic strips, making foreign comics more readable for American audiences, convention appearances, garage sales, online sales and the like.

If you'd like, I can put your request on my blog and my Facebook page to see if there's anyone in the area who might be able to help you here. Let me know.

Urban emailed back with this:

That would be great if you could add my request to your blog page. Thank you so much for just responding.

So...

If any of my bloggy readers can advise Urban on comics internships in the Akron area or offer him such an internship, please e-mail him at your earliest convenience. He’d appreciate it and so would I. I’m trying to get a jump on racking up the “nice” points before Santa makes his 2015 visit to Casa Isabella.

That’s all for 2014, my friends. Have a joyous and above all safe New Year’s Eve. I’ll be back in 2015 with more stuff.

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

This bloggy thing of mine will return in all its glory and then some on Thursday, January 1, 2015. In the meantime, I’m using today’s and tomorrow's bloggies to help out a couple comics fans who made requests of me that I was unable to fulfill.

Here’s a note I received from Chris Chubb:

Hi. My name is Chris Clubb and I was wondering if there are people just like me who are more interested in the history of comic books from older publications like Comic Buyer's Guide and Wizard. Most of these wonderful magazine books go way back, before I was born. I’m looking to educate myself via these magazines. If there are serious fans that are now getting rid of their collections of these magazines, I’d like to hear from them.

If there is anyone that dose not want their back issues of CBG and Wizard, I’m very interested in buying them, particularly the much older issues of CBG when it was a newspaper. I want to learn about the history of comic books as well as the economics of buying and selling comic books.

Back to Tony:

Chris seems to be a pretty nice guy. He’s sincere in his desire to learn more about the history of comic books and in buying old comic books wisely. He’s 46 years old, lives in Glendale, California, and can be contacted via email.

I haven’t come across any duplicate copies of CBG while searching through my world-famous Vast Accumulation of Stuff. I’m hoping some of my beloved readers will be able to accommodate Chris’ request.

I’ll be back tomorrow with another request. It’s part of my plan to make Santa’s 2015 nice list without doing any actual work myself. See you then.

We're closing in on the new year and I'm finally feeling close to 100%. I'm back at work this early morning and expect to start posting full-size bloggy things on January 1. Keep watching this space for the usual fun mix of news, views and reviews.

Thursday, December 25, 2014

This has been a challenging month and a challenging year for me. But, as I write these words so early on this Christmas morning, my friend Tom Batiuk reminds me of folks whose challenges are so much more difficult than mine.

Not every one of America's defenders are lucky enough to come home for the holidays. Some will never come home for the holidays again. Some will carry the scars of their service throughout their lives. And their families will grieve and will carry those scars as well.

We ask such sacrifice of such a small percentage of Americans and we don't come close to doing right by them. In a country beset by woes...in a country where the avaricious wealthy grow ever more so at the expense of all others...in a country where some still condemn some of our citizens because of who they love, even when those citizens have served our nation proudly...let us remember our brave defenders on this Christmas day.

In the new year, even as we deal with all those other woes, let us always keep the men and women of our armed forces in the forefront of our thoughts and prayers. Let us always do right by them. Let us truly thank them for their service.

Wednesday, December 24, 2014

SANTA: It's not just the "dark" that annoys me. It's the "depressing" and "insane" stuff. So why don't you just run along to your Batcave and drink a big glass of go fuck yourself while the rest of us enjoy the holidays.

BATMAN: I have plans to deal with you and all other holiday symbols if you go bad.

SANTA: This is why we can't have nice DC comic books.

BATMAN: What can I do to change my fate, o ghost of Christmas past?

SANTA: There's that "insane" part kicking in again. Look, why not just head over to Tony Isabella's place? He's still under the weather, but he'll be watching episodes of the 1966 Batman series on his Blu-ray player. You could use a good dose of Adam West.

BATMAN: Will there be cookies?

SANTA: "sigh" Yes, there will be cookies. But you won't be able to enjoy them unless you ungrit your teeth.

BATMAN: Hey, that's on the artists. Do you think I like looking like I have to take a dump 24/7?

Tuesday, December 23, 2014

I am still under the weather, but, throwing caution to the winds, I decided to celebrate my 63rd birthday anyway. A big part of that celebration was receiving hundreds of emails and Facebook messages from my friends. Thank you for your many kindnesses.

The birthday started with my annual free breakfast at Denny's with Barb, Eddie and Kelly. Then, with Eddie's help, I was able to run a bunch of holiday-related errands.

Our friend and neighbor Greg Luppino joined us for dinner. We got take away from Dominic's Italian Restaurant here in Medina. I had way too much good food, topped off by Barb's red velvet birthday cake. Today, I know I will be paying a price for all that fun.

Birthday gifts from the family included a touching card from Kelly, a funny one from Eddie, a peach pie and card from Greg and his daughter Giselle, a loving card from Barb, the Guardians of the Galaxy Blu-ray and the Batman TV show from the 1960s in that spiffy collectors package. Okay, I bought the last one myself, but Barb wrapped it. So it counts.

Again, thanks to all my family and friends for making my birthday so special. I hope to be on the mend soon and get back to full-scale blogging.

Monday, December 15, 2014

I seem to be largely over whatever mutant flu laid me low for the past couple weeks. However, I have a ton of family and holiday and work stuff to catch up on this week. Full-scale blogging will resume as soon as humanly or even inhumanly possible. Stay well, my friends.

Friday, December 12, 2014

I'm feeling better, but still moving very slow. I hope to get back up to speed by Monday. In related news, my land lines have been restored so I can again start receiving all those scam and solicitation phone calls I love so much. Bah!